ESPN,ABC, Grab F1 Rights Deal for 2018

by Mark Gero

Beginning in 2018, ESPN and it's sister station, ABC Sports will cover al 21 Formula One events, taking over the NBC Sports Network contract, which had been around for four years.(Photo Courtesy of Getty Images)

After televising Formula One Racing for the last four seasons, the NBC Sports Network announced Wednesday that it will not continue its coverage after the end of this season. ESPN, who has not covered F1 since 1997, will take over the mantle beginning in March of 2018 with the Australian Grand Prix.

This deal, which is multi-year and digital, occurred following new American owners Liberty Media ideas to use over the top media streaming coverage soon, which could occur with popular companies as Netflix or Amazon Video.

In a statement by the NBC Sports Group, it read: “Although we take great pride in having grown Formula 1's visibility and viewership since we became its exclusive U.S. media rights holder in 2013, this will be our last season with the series. "In this case, we chose not to enter into a new agreement in which the rights holder itself competes with us and our distribution partners. We wish the new owners of F1 well."

As far as ESPN is concerned, the schedule will be that all 21 races will be televised live either on ESPN, ESPN 2 or ABC, the apparent partner of ESPN.

The Connecticut based company, which began its coverage of sports back 1979, reported on F1 until 1997, when Speed vision came in, was switched to Speed Channel, which eventually was bought out by Fox Sports. NBCSN took the reins afterwards in 2013 before this renewal came in with the total sports network.

The owner of ESPN was delighted, and is looking forward to doing what its predecessor did during their four seasons; to make the sport of F1 become more popular in the United States.

“ESPN has had a long commitment to motorsports, and Formula One is a crown jewel in the sport," said Burke Magnus, ESPN executive vice president of programming & scheduling to its web site, ESPN F1. "There are many passionate Formula One fans in the U.S. and we look forward to bringing the pageantry, spectacle and excitement of F1 to viewers across the ESPN platform. “

“We are excited about the return of the world's foremost motor racing platform to the ABC and ESPN platforms," said Sean Bratches, managing director, commercial operations at Formula One. "ABC's Wide World of Sports first started airing live grands prix in the early 1960's and this linear and digital partnership with ESPN represents a significant step forward in achieving Formula One's aim of broadening the sport's appeal. The U.S. market is a very important growth opportunity for Formula One and we are looking forward to working with ESPN to ignite the growing fan interest."

ABC sports were around first in F1, beginning in 1962, when it covered the Monaco Grand Prix with the late Jim McKay. It went through the 1970’s covering the Monaco race, along with the U.S. Grand Prix West in Long Beach, California, and the U.S. Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York. It concluded it racing coverage with selected events until 1988.

For ESPN, they started with a ten-race coverage in 1994, and expanded to 14 events until 1994. Afterwards, the contract continued until their last season in 1997.

Here are the schedule of races and times for ESPN’s first season of F1 coverage.

March 25

12:55 a.m.

Australian Grand Prix

ESPN2

April 8

1:55 a.m.

Chinese Grand Prix

ESPN2

April 15

10:55 a.m.

Bahrain Grand Prix

ESPN2

April 29

8:55 a.m.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

ESPN2

May 13

7:55 a.m.

Spanish Grand Prix

ESPN2

May 27

7:55 a.m.

Monaco Grand Prix

ESPN

3:30 p.m.

Monaco Grand Prix

ABC (re-aired)

June 10

1:55 p.m.

Canadian Grand Prix

ESPN

June 24

7:55 a.m.

French Grand Prix

ESPN2

July 1

7:55 a.m.

Austrian Grand Prix

ESPN2

July 8

7:55 a.m.

British Grand Prix

ESPN

July 22

7:55 a.m.

German Grand Prix

ESPN2

July 29

7:55 a.m.

Hungarian Grand Prix

ESPN2

Aug. 26

7:55 a.m.

Belgian Grand Prix

ESPN2

Sept. 2

7:55 a.m.

Italian Grand Prix

ESPN2

Sept. 16

7:55 a.m.

Singapore Grand Prix

ESPN2

Sept. 30

7:55 a.m.

Russian Grand Prix

ESPN2

Oct. 7

12:55 a.m.

Japanese Grand Prix

ESPN2

Oct. 21

2:55 p.m.

United States Grand Prix

ABC

Oct. 28

2:55 p.m.

Mexican Grand Prix

ABC

Nov. 11

10:55 a.m.

Brazilian Grand Prix

ESPN2

Nov. 25

7:55 a.m.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

ESPN2

Mark Gero

A 16 year veteran of writing formula one racing weekend race reports, features and team launches, Mark has worked for such companies as all-sports, e-sports, The Munich Eye newspaper in Germany, racingnation.com and Autoweek. A former member for this site four years ago, Mark now is a contributor for R.I.S.